Buckle up: the ACM is racing ahead with speedy solutions and more fines

Buckle up: the ACM is racing ahead with speedy solutions and more fin

Buckle up: the ACM is racing ahead with speedy solutions and more fines

The Dutch competition watchdog ACM will bite faster and fiercer, according to its new chairman Martijn Snoep. The ACM plans to shorten the length of its investigations by deciding on their merits sooner. This will free up time and capacity to deal with more cases.

In addition, it intends to impose more fines. Swifter and stricter outcomes can thus be expected, particularly in regard of the ACM's newly designated focus areas. At horizontal level, the ACM will concentrate on purchasing cartels and the coordination of employment conditions, while at vertical level resale price maintenance and online sales restrictions are on the ACM's priority list. Companies are therefore well-advised to double-check whether their agreements with distributors and their contacts with competitors are in line with the ACM's recently published vertical and horizontal guidelines.

The ACM chairman recently confirmed to newspaper NRC and news radio station BNR that the average length of ACM investigations will be shortened and that the number of fines it issues will increase. This marks the end of the ACM's earlier, more 'informal', enforcement style.

It is also marks the end of the ACM's more liberal approach to vertical restraints. The ACM joined the European Commission's battle against (online) vertical restraints in late December 2018 by starting an investigation into vertical price-fixing of consumer goods by manufacturers and online and offline shops. Its recently-published guidelines on vertical agreements, together with its expressly mentioned focus on "illegal (price) agreements between suppliers and distributors and on online sales restrictions", show that it has no intention of easing up the battle yet. The ACM's vertical guidelines provide practical examples of online practices companies currently face, such as online sales restrictions, dual pricing and online advertisement restrictions. They are therefore a welcome addition to the European Commission's guidelines on vertical restraints, which are currently under review. Similarly, the ACM's guidelines on horizontal agreements provide useful guidance for companies when dealing with competitors. The horizontal guidelines' paragraphs on purchasing cartels and coordination of employment conditions are particularly worth reading, now that the ACM has designated these as focus area. The ACM is likely to start looking for non-poaching clauses, wage-fixing and collusion of hiring conditions soon.

Companies should therefore double-check their distribution arrangements and online sales practices for potential antitrust risks. They should also keep their HR staff aware of the potential antitrust risks of certain recruiting and hiring practices.

This article was published in the Competition Law Newsletter of March 2019. Another article in this newsletter:

Short Reads - The General Court (GC) recently rejected Qualcomm's appeal against a Commission decision requesting information. The Commission's request was presented to the company after the issuance of a statement of objections.

Short Reads - As part of the digital economy, the rise of online platforms and search engines raises all kinds of legal questions. For example, do bicycle couriers qualify as employees who are entitled to ordinary labour law protections? Or should they be considered self-employed (see our Stibbe website on this issue)? The rise of online platforms also triggers more general legal questions on the relationship between online platforms and their users. Importantly, the European Union is becoming increasingly active in this field.

Short Reads - The European Commission recently published a report it had commissioned to examine the market dynamics and potential antitrust risks related to loan syndication. The report serves as guidance to the financial industry by identifying aspects of the market and syndication process which may raise competition concerns.

Articles - Since the GDPR became applicable almost one year ago, multiple questions have arisen about its interaction with other fields of law. In this three-part blog series of “GDPR and Public Law”, we discuss three relevant issues of the interaction of GDPR with public law and government. In this blog we discuss the applicability of GDPR to public bodies.

Short Reads - The Trade and Industry Appeals Tribunal (CBb) recently overturned two judgments of the Rotterdam District Court and confirmed the fines imposed on two taxi firms. The CBb judgments nuance the District Court of Rotterdam's previous focus on market definition.

Our website uses functional cookies for the functioning of the website and analytic cookies that enable us to generate aggregated visitor data. We also use other cookies, such as third party tracking cookies - please indicate whether you agree to the use of these other cookies: